The guy quote: Sir John Betjeman

Sir John Betjeman was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who’s Who as a “poet and hack”. He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. Starting his career as a journalist, he ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate to date and a much-loved figure on British television. Originally the name was Betjemann, but the family knocked off the last ‘n’ during the First World War to make it sound less Teutonic. It wasn’t until the Fifties that his work really started getting noticed. When his Collected Poems came out in 1958 they made publishing history – they have since sold over two and a quarter million copies

It’s interesting that, at a time when people were getting stuck into free-form jazz and blank verse, Betjeman stuck to his traditional guns. And while outwardly his satiric, wry verse might have seemed light, there was a great depth and elegance to his poetry. He died in 1984 and was buried in St Enedoc Church, Trebetherick, North Cornwall. It is a magical place. One of the nicest ways to approach it is by getting the ferry from Padstow to Rock, then walking up along the bay and over the hills – beautiful. There are some recordings of him reading his poems here. Below are a couple of lines and then two wonderful poems: How to get on in society, and Meditation on the A30.

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.

I don’t think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn’t be.

3 responses to “The guy quote: Sir John Betjeman”

Without Betjeman we would have lost many of our finest Victorian buildings, including St. Pancras Station and the Natural History Museum. He almost singlehandedly managed to draw attention to the fact that we were loosing buildings of historical importance from the Victorian period. He stepped in when St. Pancras was on the brink of being demolished.
I wonder how people will feel about saving 20th century brutalist buildings in the 2050s.